Problem: The lifespans of turtles in a particular zoo are normally distributed. The average turtle lives $118$ years; the standard deviation is $16.8$ years. Use the empirical rule (68-95-99.7%) to estimate the probability of a turtle living between $101.2$ and $151.6$ years.
$118$ $101.2$ $134.8$ $84.4$ $151.6$ $67.6$ $168.4$ $95\%$ $68\%$ $13.5\%$ $13.5\%$ We know the lifespans are normally distributed with an average lifespan of $118$ years. We know the standard deviation is $16.8$ years, so one standard deviation below the mean is $101.2$ years and one standard deviation above the mean is $134.8$ years. Two standard deviations below the mean is $84.4$ years and two standard deviations above the mean is $151.6$ years. Three standard deviations below the mean is $67.6$ years and three standard deviations above the mean is $168.4$ years. We are interested in the probability of a turtle living between $101.2$ and $151.6$ years. The empirical rule (or the 68-95-99.7 rule) tells us that $95\%$ of the turtles will have lifespans within 2 standard deviations of the average lifespan. It also tells us that $68\%$ of the turtles will have lifespans within 1 standard deviation of the mean. The probability of a particular turtle living between $101.2$ and $151.6$ years is ${68\%} + \color{orange}{13.5\%}$, or $81.5\%$.